#joe schuster

[superman-the-secret-third-thing]

Superman covers that go hard:

Action Comics Pt. 1

1938-1942

[chernobog13]

COUNTDOWN TO SUPERMAN DAY:

Superman Day is tomorrow, April 18.

A sketch of Superman by some guy named Joe Schuster.

[browsethestacks]

Before And After

Action Comics #01 (1938) / Archie Is Mr. Justice #01 (2024)

Art by Joe Schuster / Eric Talbot

[sebeth]

Who's Who In The DC Universe #1: Intro, Abel, Abnegazar, Rath, & Ghast, and Abra Kadabra

When I was young, there was no internet. If you lived in small towns, there was no comic book store. You had to settle for the comic books that could be found in the spinner racks found in drug stores, grocery stores, etc.  You may not get every issue of the series. The internet didn’t exist so you couldn’t jump online to ask questions. You had the actual issues, the letter pages in the issues, and your own imagination to fill in the gaps. There were also a handful of series that I bought religiously (and were always available at my local spinner rack) that were essential in building my knowledge of the DC and Marvel Universes. The series were:

Who’s Who In The DC Universe

Secret Origins

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Marvel Saga: The Official History of the DC Universe

Seriously, the number of characters I decided were my favorites after a one/two-page entry! I’m on a nostalgia kick for my childhood comics and the vastness of the DC Universe before the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Don’t get me wrong, I love characters from the various reboots – Tim, Conner, Kyle, Bart, Helena B, the various post-crisis JSA legacy characters. I simply don’t think DC needs to “Crisis-reboot” every few years, make a new continuity “to make things easier for new readers” only to re-insert old characters and storytelling elements into the new continuity thus complicating the new continuity and causing another “Crisis-reboot). But I’m beginning to veer off into a lengthy rant about what I don’t like about modern DC/Marvel comics and this post is about nostalgia.

Let’s crack open the first issue of Who’s Who in the Dc Universe, published in 1985. In retrospect, its hilarious that DC was putting out these 24 issues in the midst of the Crisis of Infinite Earths series, considering the Crisis would retcon most of these entries. Maybe should have started a few years earlier. Oh well.

The inside cover features a brief history of the beginning of DC Comics. The highlights:

February 1935: New Fun Comics is introduced to the world. Six months later, Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster would create (no, not Superman) Doctor Occult.

December 1935: New Comics was published. Twelve issues later it became New Adventure Comics and later simply Adventure Comics. The series featured characters like Sagebrush ‘n’ Cactus, Jibbly Jones, Sir Loin of Beef, the Federal Men and others. I consider myself to be very well-informed of the comics from the Golden Age to the Final Crisis era but if you are familiar with those characters of New Comics, I salute you as a comic book expert.

March 1937: Detective Comics, the first all-new comic based on a single theme is published. Simon & Schuster again created the debut characters of Slam Bradley and Spy. Simon & Schuster are most well-known for their creation of Superman but they deserve credit for their non-Kryptonian DC creations. Slam Bradley, original star of the Detective Comics title would later be integrated into the Gotham titles, most notably in the Catwoman series written by Ed Brubaker.

April 1938: Action Comics #1 was published and featured Simon & Schuster’s most famous creation: Superman

Marv Wolfman than states that Superman was quickly followed by Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, etc.

Not mentioned is DC buying out various companies in the 1970s/1980s: Charlton, Fawcett, Quality, etc that led to the acquisition of characters like the Shazam Family, the Blackhawks, Plastic Man, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, Judomaster, Nightshade, the Question, etc.

The inside cover also contains a pronunciation guide for the characters with entires.

The entries:

Abel by Joe Orlando

Caretaker of the House of Secrets, somewhere in the Kentucky Hills

The House was built by the mysterious Senator Sandsfield who swore that no one but a pure-bred Kentuckian would ever live there

Sansfield’s wife went insane within months of living there, he sold the house

The next four owners, “none of whom were of pure Kentucky stock” fled the house within three months’ time

The house’s next owner attempted to move the house across the state line, the house itself rebelled (!): “tearing itself free of the trailer and forcing itself over a cliff, before finally coming to rest beside a cemetery less than 200 yards from the state line

The only other house in the area is the House of Mystery, standing just across the cemetery

Little is known of Abel’s life before he became the caretaker for the House of Secrets except that he was a solitary, lonesome man, with an imaginary companion named Goldie

Abel was recommended for the job by his brother Cain, the caretaker of the House of Mystery

This is what modern comics is missing – sentient houses that rids itself of unwanted owners via insanity or old-fashioned murder! I never read much of the House of Secrets/Mystery titles so I don’t know if the series played up Abel and Cain’s biblical connections. I do remember the duo making an appearance in a Secret Origins issue and the fratricide was jokingly mentioned. Late 80s/early 90s readers will recognize the duo from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. Gaiman did have Cain murder Abel (don’t worry, he gets better). Modern viewers will know the duo from their appearance in the Netflix Sandman show.

Abnegazar, Rath, & Ghast by Craig Hamilton & Dick Giordano

The trio inhabited Earth a billion years ago, “using their magical powers to spread evil over the planet’s prehuman population.

The trio was banished to internal imprisonment beneath the earth by the Timeless Ones.

The trio had created talismans – the Silver Wheel of Wyorlath, the Green Bell of Uthool, the Red Jar of Calythos – and had hidden them beneath the earth’s surface

Felix Faust conjured the spirits of the trio in the 20th century in an effort to gain more power. The trio informed Faust of the talismans but warned they were guarded by magical creatures.

Faust decided force the Justice League to unearth the talismans, setting events in motion that would free the trio in the past

The Justice League, already on a mission in time, defeated the freed trio

The JLA would battle the trio on three other occasions.

The trio is goofy looking, Each one wears nothing but purple briefs and pixie boots. All three are pink-skinned. One looks human except his skin is covered in circles. Two are bald but the third has a mohawk, One has huge pointed ears and another has oversized eyes. I was always “meh” on the trio. They are also known as the Demons Three.

Abra Kadabra by Carmine Infantino & Frank McLaughlin

A stage magician from the 64th Century, frustrated by the lack of audience acceptance as the super-science of the time made his tricks seem commonplace.

Kadabra stole a time machine and journeyed to the 20th Century where he still failed as a stage magician.

He decided to use his futuristic scientific knowledge to commit a series of robberies, forcing his victims to applaud his actions.

His crimes led to repeated confrontations with the Flash (Barry Allen).

Abra needs to accept that he sucks as a magician. He had all the future knowledge and tech and he still couldn’t succeed? He should have been blowing Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, etc, out of the water! The various Flashes have such an extensive Rogues gallery and Abra Kadabra is important part of it but I’d put him at the “C” level.

[livetoparty]

holy guacamole⁉️

[deadpresidents]

Also, Becky sticking her book in the White House library is top-notch publicity work. And Simon & Schuster will love me for pointing out that Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Girl (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) is available from Gallery Books on March 26th!

(And WWE will love me for pointing out that WrestleMania XL takes place from Philadelphia on Saturday, April 6th and Sunday, April 7th on Peacock!)

[cherylmmbookblog]

#Blogtour Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life by Helen Fisher

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life by Helen Fisher. About the Author Helen Fisher is the author of Space Hopper, her debut novel of 2021. Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is her second novel. Helen has degrees in psychology and ergonomics and was the senior evaluator at RNIB for a few years. This background informs much of her writing as she is fascinated by the…

[have-you-read-this-comic]

Propaganda under the cut

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

NYT: The Disappearance of Literary Men Should Worry Everyone

Over the past two decades, literary fiction has become a largely female pursuit. Novels are increasingly written by women and read by women. In 2004, about half the authors on The New York Times fiction best-seller list were women and about half men; this year, the list looks to be more than three-quarters women. According to multiple reports, women readers now account for about 80 percent of fiction sales.

I see the same pattern in the creative-writing program where I’ve taught for eight years. About 60 percent of our applications come from women, and some cohorts in our program are entirely female. When I was a graduate student in a similar program about 20 years ago, the cohorts were split fairly evenly by gender. As Eamon Dolan, a vice president and executive editor at Simon & Schuster, told me recently, “the young male novelist is a rare species.”

Male underrepresentation is an uncomfortable topic in a literary world otherwise highly attuned to such imbalances. In 2022 the novelist Joyce Carol Oates wrote on Twitter that “a friend who is a literary agent told me that he cannot even get editors to read first novels by young white male writers, no matter how good.” The public response to Ms. Oates’s comment was swift and cutting — not entirely without reason, as the book world does remain overwhelmingly white. But the lack of concern about the fate of male writers was striking.

To be clear, I welcome the end of male dominance in literature. Men ruled the roost for far too long, too often at the expense of great women writers who ought to have been read instead. I also don’t think that men deserve to be better represented in literary fiction; they don’t suffer from the same kind of prejudice that women have long endured. Furthermore, young men should be reading Sally Rooney and Elena Ferrante. Male readers don’t need to be paired with male writers.

But if you care about the health of our society — especially in the age of Donald Trump and the distorted conceptions of masculinity he helps to foster — the decline and fall of literary men should worry you.

In recent decades, young men have regressed educationally, emotionally and culturally. Among women matriculating at four-year public colleges, about half will graduate four years later; for men the rate is under 40 percent. This disparity surely translates to a drop-off in the number of novels young men read, as they descend deeper into video games and pornography. Young men who still exhibit curiosity about the world too often seek intellectual stimulation through figures of the “manosphere” such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan.

The marginalization of young men seems to have been a significant factor in this year’s presidential election. No voters were more committed to Mr. Trump than young white men — and he also did well with Hispanic men and continued to make gains with Black men. I think of 2024 as the Fight Club election, in which disaffected guys vented their frustrations and anxieties through a brawler who will one day reveal himself to be not their hero, but rather a figment of their imagination.

These young men need better stories — and they need to see themselves as belonging to the world of storytelling. Novels do many things. They entertain, inspire, puzzle, hypnotize. But reading fiction is also an excellent way to improve one’s emotional I.Q. Novels help us form our identities and understand our lives. Like many other bookish Gen X-ers, I can’t conceive of my formative years without the Douglas Coupland novel that gave our generation its name. This is why we need a more inclusive literary culture, one that will bring young men in from the cold.

I am not saying that we should declare progress for women writers complete and now focus only on men. The question for me is: What will become of literature — and indeed, of society — if men are no longer involved in reading and writing? The fortunes of men and women are intertwined. This is why, for example, I make sure that my male students read The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s not just their edification that matters; women also benefit from the existence of better men.

Here I am reminded of something that the feminist scholar bell hooks once wrote: “There remains a small strain of feminist thinkers who feel strongly that they have given all they want to give to men; they are concerned solely with improving the collective welfare of women. Yet life has shown me that any time a single male dares to transgress patriarchal boundaries” — something I am convinced that literature enables men to do — “the lives of women, men and children are fundamentally changed for the better.”

(Full article)

I share a lot of contempt for many of the ideological trends among young men as well (I'm a man myself), so I agree that these anti-intellectual inclinations are troubling and that this segment of the population is particularly vulnerable to radicalization due to their isolation.

I've always believed that groups demanding greater media representation should put their money where their mouth is and actively support the kind of content they want to see become more widespread. In that light, the announcement of a new independent publisher focused on books by male writers seems like a good (if very preliminary) first step.

[escapethemojoverse]

Absolute Mojoverse Episode 3: Absolute Superman "The Last Dust of Krypton" by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval

Absolute Mojoverse is here one last time--this month--to mine really fast, smell really nice, and stop ourselves from killing that jerk Peacemaker. we’re talking Absolute Superman “The Last Dust of Krypton” a world where jackbooted militarized thugs protect the interest of environmentally disasterous corporations and AI asks us not to think. What a dark… fantasy?

Also we talk Absolute Batman 6, because we were dumb and didn't understand that "The Zoo" was six parts... We're new to DC!

CW: Brief mention of suicide

Absolute Batman #6 "The Zoo Part 6" is written by Scott Snyder with art by Nick Dragota, Color by Frank Martin, and Lettered by Clayton Cowles

Absolute Superman 1-5 "The Last Dust of Krypton" is written by Jason Aaron with art by Rafa Sandoval, Color by Ulises Arreola and Lettered by Becca Carey

Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Schuster

If you have a comment or question, you can email us @Mojoversepod@gmail.com

Logo by Emily Kardamis who can be found on Instagram @corruptedgem or on Patreon at Patreon.com/corruptedgem

Our theme song is by Megan Lenius.

The Absolute cover of our theme song is by Richard Simms.

[teamthunderdome]

TEAM THUNDERDOME.

TWO TEAMS ENTER. TUMBLR VOTES. ONE TEAM LEAVES. TRIAL BY COMBAT. TO THE DEATH. VICTORY OR SOVNGARDE.

The Rules:

Fights will occur over the course of ONE WEEK, quarter 1 begins JUNE 1ST, 2024 at 12:00 AM MIDNIGHT EDT (UTC-04:00).

Multiple fights happen across one week.

ONLY 3 to 4 team members per team. 2 is too few, 5 is almost cheating. If a team has more than 4 members, some will have to wait in the stands (looking at you, Scooby-Doo and Tally Hall).

Tumblr poll will determine the winner of an individual fight via emotional support and gracious cookie donations.

Majority Wins. Whether or not a team would canonically win or lose the fight does not matter, only the number of votes.

Single Elimination.

Outside of the rules listed above, anything goes. Reblog a fight to get your friends on your side.

Propaganda is fair game. If you know perhaps a little too much about one of the teams and want to explain why your team should win, please submit an in-depth propaganda post to the blog homepage.

Spread the word! Your favorite might win! (Or not! I just run this thing!)

Lasko Wind Machine

All 64 Teams Competing (In random order - will NOT reflect the final bracket):

Team WINCHESTER (Sam, Dean, Castiel, Crowley)

Team FORTRESS (Heavy, Medic, Engineer, Soldier)

Team AIONIOS (Noah, Lanz, Eunie, Riku)

Team GONDOR (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf)

Team TWILIGHT (Jacob, Edward, Bella)

Team STAR WARS (Han, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca)

Team NARUTO (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura)

Team SHREK (Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss In Boots) (As portrayed at the end of Shrek 2)

Team OF LIGHT (Jonathan Harker, Jack Seward, Quincey Morris, Abraham Van Helsing)

Team PERSONA (Makoto Yuki, Kotone Shiomi, Yu Narukami, Ren Mamamiya)

Team HOMESTUCK (John, Jade, Rose, Dave)

Team MUSKETEERS (Athos, Porthos, Aramis, D'Artagnan)

Team HERCULES (Hercules, Iolaus, Salmoneus, Autolycus) (The Legendary Journeys, Hercules as portrayed by Kevin Sorbo)

Team PUYO PUYO (Ringo, Arle, Amitie, Lemres)

Team BAKUGO (Bakugo, Mina, Denki, Eijirou)

Team WIGGLES (Jeff, Anthony, Murray, Greg) (as originally formed)

Team GRYFFINDOR (Harry, Ron, Hermione)

Team COOL RUNNINGS (Derice Bannock, Junior Bevil, Sanka Coffie, Yul Brenner)

Team AEGIS (Rex, Pyra, Mythra) (all other party members excluded due to Blades and their pesky "friendships" binding them to their users)

Team RHYTHM THIEF (Raphael, Fondue, Marie, Charlie) (what a cute doggy :3)

Team MYSTERY INC (Fred, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne) (sorry no pets allowed)

Team DEKU (Izuku, Tsuyu, Ochako, Shouto)

Team KRISPIES (Snap, Crackle, Pop)

Team ELITE BEAT (Agent Spin, Agent J, Agent Chieftain, Agent Starr)

Team JIGSAW (Kramer, Young, Hoffman, Gordon)

Team UMIZOOMI (Milli, Geo, Bot)

Team TRIFORCE (Link, Zelda, Groose) (Skyward Sword variants)

Team LAYTON (Layton, Luke, Emmy) (Pre-Azran Legacy)

Team SONIC (Sonic, Knuckles, Tails)

Team ASKR (Alfonse, Anna, Sharena)

Team TARDIS (The Doctor, Amy, Rory, River)

Team WOOHP (Sam, Alex, Clover)

Team KEYBLADE (Sora, Donald, Goofy)

Team 1908 THOMAS FLYER (Montague Roberts, George Schuster, Hans Hendrik Hansen, George MacAdam)

Team BIONIS (Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, Sharla)

Team DARK (Shadow, Rouge, Omega) (Ultimate Life Form status tenuous)

Team OOO (Finn, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, BMO)

Team TALLY HALL (Rob, Zubin, Andrew, Joe) (Ross excluded - he's just a drummer)

Team DOODLEBOPS (Deedee, Rooney, Moe)

Team SCIENCE (Gordon, Tommy, Bubby, Dr. Coomer)

Team POWERPUFF (Blossom, Buttercup, Bubbles)

Team INCONCEIVABLE (Inigo, Fezzik, Vizzini)

Team METROCITY (Megamind, Metro Man, Roxanne, Minion)

Team WONDER PETS (Linny, Tuck, Ming Ming)

Team REGULAR (Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, Skips)

Team PILLAR MEN (Santana, Wham, ACDC, Kars) (Ultimate Life Form status tenuous)

Team BEATLES (John, Paul, George, Ringo)

Team SMILING FRIENDS (Pim, Charlie, Glep, Alan)

Team ROTTEN (Robbie, Tobby, Bobby, Flobby) (Ultimate Life Form status confirmed)

Team KRUSTY KRAB (SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs)

Team VOCALOID (Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin)

Team GARFIELD (Garfield, Jon, Odie, Liz)

Team POOH (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Christopher Robin)

Team AVALANCHE (Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret)

Team LOONEY (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Michael Jordan)

Team GHOSTS (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde) (freshly dead)

Team ROCKMAN (Rock, Roll, Blues, Bass)

Team MARIO (Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi)

Team WRIGHT (Phoenix, Apollo, Athena, Trucy) (as seen in Dual Destinies)

Team SHERLOCK (Sherlock, John, Mycroft) (Brigandorf Crimplesnart's depiction of Sherlock)

Team MASH (Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, BJ Hunnicutt, Charles Emerson Winchester III)

Team RWBY (Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Blake)

Team CHANNEL 5 (Ulala, Space Michael, Jaguar, Pudding)

Team FANBOY (Fanboy, Chum Chum, Kyle)

GOOD LUCK!!!

(you're gonna need it)

[mariacallous]

The Kamala Harris campaign is launching its own Twitch channel, where it will be streaming the vice president’s acceptance speech on Thursday.

The Twitch channel is part of the campaign’s broader strategy for engaging young and difficult-to-reach voters online. The account, which is under the handle of “kamalaharris,” joins the campaign’s suite of social and streaming accounts on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube.

“The VP’s address tonight will be one of the biggest moments of the entire campaign thus far—and we’re making sure we’re bringing her live to voters wherever they may be, Twitch included,” Seth Schuster, a Harris spokesperson, told WIRED in a statement. “Our job as the campaign is to break through a historically personalized media landscape, taking the VP and her vision for the future directly to the hardest-to-reach voters and those who will decide this election.”

The Harris-Walz campaign has invested heavily in digital, hiring more than 175 staffers across digital organizing, content creation, and digital advertising and fundraising. In the week after Harris jumped to the top of the Democratic ticket, the rebranded KamalaHQ TikTok account quintupled in followers, and its Harris-focused content received 232 million views and 33 million likes.

There are also 200 creators who have been credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention this week. It’s the first time independent creators have been allowed access to the DNC, and they’ve been provided with opportunities to interview politicians and party leaders like DNC chair Jaime Harrison.

The Harris campaign isn’t the first to join Twitch. The Joe Biden and Donald Trump campaigns joined Twitch as well in 2020. Trump’s account was suspended following the January 6 attack on the Capitol and was only reinstated this summer. When the Biden channel launched, the Biden team streamed a live feed from the back of a train he was traveling on while playing lo-fi beats reminiscent of 24-hour relaxing music streams.

[the-lesser-light]

Spotlight: The Jewish Superman

Siegmund "Zishe" Breibart (1893-1925), a Polish born circus performer, vaudeville strongman, and Jewish folklore hero.

Also known as the "Strongest Man in the world" and "Iron king". He was also often called The Modern Samson.

His family were blacksmiths, which explains his amazing strength and ability to manipulate iron bars.

He performed amazing feats of strength for his acts, always taking things a step further. Some of his more well known acts were pulling heavy items with his teeth and ripping through chains with his bare hands.

In one act, he bent iron rods around his left arm in seven equidistant loops (much like a tefillin strap). He would also often twist metal bars into the shapes of Shabbat candle holders and braided challah.

He was known for putting incredibly heavy items balanced on his chest and for letting people hit anvils over him.

Later, he would go to shows in a blue and white coat with the Star of David across it.

He was credited as "The Superman of the Ages" back in 1923 and he happened to perform in a small town where two kids, Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel attended.

While Jerry and Joe never mentioned Siegmund as an inspiration, it is hard not to see Siegmund as having left some sort of lasting impression on them. When they later created the comic book character Superman.

He performed feats of inhuman strength, was known to be "stronger than a locamotive", and he seemed invincible.

He was considered mild mannered and a kind man behind his showman acts.

He died in 1925, after having contracted blood poisoning following an injury received in a stunt gone awry.

I would encourage you all to go look him up!

[lauriel816]

Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster drew their inspiration for Superman from Manuel Neuer

[livetoparty]

kevin w his thumbs up LMAO

man 😭

[the-city-in-mind]

Batman is the product of bad street design

image: Vest on DeviantArt

If there were overlooking balconies and windows to provide eyes on the street, Crime Alley wouldn’t be “Crime Alley,” and Joe Chill would not have a place to rob people.

I mean in every depiction of Gotham other than the 1966 TV show, it’s portrayed like every American city that decided to raze the old main streets, put highways right through downtown, let industries move overseas, let the waterfront rot, has a weird Kowloon Walled City type slum in the middle?? permits industries to cloud the air with coal smoke (I mean, it’s dark DURING THE DAYTIME so what else could that be), let huge chains decimate local commerce…

If they had only read Jane Jacobs!

A good bit of analysis comparing Gotham to Metropolis posits Batman as Machiavelli’s Prince, ruling by fear but setting a moral standard in a city that was corrupt but “free,” and Superman as a Modernist, with Metropolis as Thomas More’s Utopia; an exemplar of civic improvement who helps make Metropolis, and in turn its citizens, better, by sweeping away the old.

One of the earliest stories Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, the creators of Superman, wrote about the Man of Steel, was a story in which Superman confronted juvenile delinquency by tearing down the slums where the troubled youth lived so authorities would be forced to build “decent public housing.” In Batman's Gotham, human-nature makes the city a bad place. In Superman's Metropolis, exactly like More's Utopia, it is the city that makes people bad, and it needs to be physically reordered for it to be a "good place" and for "the rude and uncivilized inhabitants" to be brought to "that measure of politeness." Superman isn't just any sort of utopian; he's a Modernist.

The "Superman in the Slums" story appeared in 1939, the same year that New York World's Fair opened, celebrating the theme of the World of Tomorrow. DC comic would print special editions comics featuring Superman for the Fair and even sponsored a Superman Day. One of the Fair's organizers' and the man who embodied the vision of housing projects and superhighways that would "displace outmoded business sections and undesired slum areas" was the Modernist urban planner Robert Moses. Slum clearance was the heroic utopian labor of the day, and he was the man responsible for bulldozing more acreage of "slum" housing then any other.